Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuse box for a vehicle having a housing in which a first bus bar that has a battery connection terminal is disposed.
In the field of motor vehicles, such a fuse box, also referred to as a primary fuse box, is usually disposed in the engine cavity, directly in the vicinity of the battery. The individual parts of a vehicle on-board power system are protected by the fuse box. In order to protect individual loads, further fuses may be disposed in a decentralized fashion, for example in the passenger compartment. The fuse box has a bus bar having a battery connection terminal via which the fuse box is connected to the battery of the vehicle in the mounted state. The energy that is made available by the battery is distributed to the individual parts of the vehicle on-board power system via the bus bar.
Published, Non-Prosecuted German Patent Application DE 199 59 272 A1 discloses such a fuse box which is referred to as a primary fuse box and which has a bus bar which is divided in two so that the fuse box can be used both for single-battery systems and for two-battery systems without relatively large modifications to the vehicle on-board power system. A further example of a primary fuse box can be found, for example, in German Utility Model DE 296 07 130 U1.
The configuration of the vehicle on-board power system usually depends on the specific customer requirements so that even with one particular type of vehicle there are different vehicle on-board power system variants owing to different equipment variants. Owing to the large number of electrical loads that are now used in vehicles, the vehicle on-board power system variants may differ considerably in their scope between a basic equipment level and a higher comfort equipment level. In trucks or construction machinery, the vehicle on-board power systems may also differ considerably in their scope, depending on which additional functionalities and thus additional loads are provided for the vehicle. Since the energy is distributed to the loads via the fuse box, they must be configured for the maximum vehicle on-board power system variant. In addition, it is advantageous if more space remains free for possible retrofitted items. A fuse box that is configured for the maximum vehicle on-board power system variant is over dimensioned for the vehicle on-board power system variant in the basic equipment level and takes up a large amount of installation space. However, in modern vehicles the installation space in the engine cavity is highly restricted.